LifeBridge Church, Longmont Y partner to help single moms and their children

While support group meets, kids learn new activities

By Pam MellskogLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
12/05/2011 10:25:04 PM MST

Updated:
12/05/2011 10:30:10 PM MST

Ed and Ruth Lehman YMCA sports and aquatics director Darrin Cole places a headband on with Adventure Kids participant Nicholas Ochoa, 8, of Longmont, at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont on Nov. 30.

LONGMONT -- Single moms and their kids part company at Longmont's LifeBridge Christian Church on Wednesday nights to get fit in different ways.

While those parenting solo seek spiritual strength over pizza and discussion, their kids head upstairs for an Adventure Kids workout sponsored by the Ed and Ruth Lehman YMCA.

The organizations partnered in fall 2010 with a pilot program that proved what they suspected -- both programs served needs not met elsewhere, said Tessie Gale, director of LifeBridge's single parent ministry.

For more information

What: Ed and Ruth Lehman YMCA Adventure Kids fitness program through the single parent ministry group at LifeBridge Christian Church

Where: LifeBridge Christian Church, 10345 Ute Hwy., Longmont

When: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., second and last Wednesday of the month (kindergartners and first-graders attend on the second Wednesday; second- and third-graders attend on the last Wednesday)

"This is a place for moms who are trying to do it right. They need the love and support and resources that we can offer, and that does include Adventure Kids," Gale said.

Besides sharing similar core values -- the Y focuses on youth developing, healthy living and social responsibility -- Adventure Kids proved a good fit from the start for giving the children and their mothers exactly what they wanted.

The Longmont Y had been looking for more outreach opportunities, said Sheridan Wolfe, director of social responsibility.

"We just knew we were missing kids with our standard after-school program groups," she said. "And we realize that being a community center doesn't always mean that it has to happen in the building."

So, when a staff member who attends LifeBridge mentioned the single moms group -- started there in 2000 by Nancy Karpenske, the director of women's ministries -- Y staff began investigating partnership possibilities.

First, they arranged home visits to interview the kids and their mothers. Instead of prescribing a program, they wanted to discover what this group needed most.

These families wanted exposure to otherwise out-of-reach activities, such as survival sports, martial arts and even Big Wheel races, said Darrin Cole, the Y's director of sports and aquatics. They wanted activities that nurtured a spirit of adventure taught by subject experts.

"And, since the program is also about role modeling, all of our subject experts will be male," he said.

Last week, Cole assisted Matt Rottman, a personal trainer and lead Adventure Kids instructor, in herding 20 second- and third-graders with a modified Simon Says game that included commands such as helicopter and three men in a row boat, then a lesson in kickboxing.

Tina Laganosky's 7-year-old son, Nathan, burned energy on the supervised activities while she joined about 80 other women -- ages 18 to 70, two-thirds of whom don't belong to LifeBridge -- for the single moms class.

"It's very wise of the Y to keep them moving," she said, laughing. "And they're doing things (in Adventure Kids) that so many of the kids have never done."

Because of the Y's mission, it heavily subsidizes Adventure Kids and charges only $2 per student, Cole said.

But LifeBridge covers that cost to make Adventure Kids free.

Gale insisted that the exciting new childcare option needed to be free of charge, and the church stood behind her.

"And since then, it's been a win/win. I wanted the kids to learn all that the Y teaches, not just fitness. And what I've noticed is that we don't have discipline problems on the nights the Y is here," she said.

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